#FlashPIC 42 Ethereal Rubbish #writingprompt #amwriting
A plastic bag is blown along a pavement by the breeze. Use this moody scene as your trigger to start writing today. An inanimate object like this is a useful tool to use in a short story or novel. This...
View Article#FlashPIC 43 A Tree Alone #writingprompt #amwriting
A single tree on the horizon. It’s an enigmatic setting. This exercise is about how setting can add to the context of your story, adding layers of complexity and mood. This is a writing prompt from the...
View Article#FlashPIC 44 Green Chairs #writingprompt #amwriting
Some stage sets are minimal, no furniture, no accessories, which has the effect of concentrating the audience’s attention on character. Consider these two green chairs in the same way and stage a scene...
View Article#FlashPic 45 Railway Line Under Bridge #writingprompt #amwriting
This exercise is about two paths crossing unexpectedly. Two people, who know each other but do not know where the other is today, will be in the same place at the same time. This meeting has...
View Article#FlashPic 46 Tap Going Two ways #writingprompt #amwriting
Two families live side by side, cheek by jowl. They must share one tap for all their water. In this exercise, the challenge is to take a basic unexciting situation then make it dramatic by adding a...
View Article#FlashPic 47 Union Jack and Trees #writingprompt #amwriting
Central London. A special occasion. Something happens here… you decide what. First choose your year, perhaps a date from history. Now make the story your own by putting you character there. Close your...
View Article#FlashPic 48 Wet Leaves #writingprompt #amwriting
Today you are going to prepare the place where an action scene will take place. It is a wet day, everything is dripping. It is outside, perhaps in an isolated wood, a city park, a garden. Underfoot,...
View Article#FlashPIC 49 Painted Sky #writingprompt #amwriting
Today you are an artist and you will paint a picture of this sky. First work out the practicals – where are you, time of day, what is your skill level, what are your expectations. Don’t worry about the...
View Article#FlashPIC 50 Tube Platform #writingprompt #amwriting
One setting, one character on different days. Today’s writing exercise puts you into the mind of a person who is in the same place, same surroundings, on different days. Explore the variations possible...
View Article#FlashPIC 51 Sky on Fire #writingprompt #amwriting
Changing weather is a useful technique used over and again by writers of fiction, poetry and films. It can convey atmosphere, increasing or decreasing dramatic tension, signal turning points in the...
View Article#FlashPIC 52 A Lion on a Tube Train #writingprompt #amwriting
Today’s writing exercise considers a surreal image – the juxtaposition of the mundane and the unexpected, an unconscious expression of fantasy, of the inner world of a character. Let’s explore how the...
View Article#FlashPIC 53 Wheatfield after Harvest #writingprompt #amwriting
Imagine you are a teenager again, laying in a recently harvested field of wheat. Recreate those lazy hazy days of summer when school was out and days seemed endless. This is a writing prompt from the...
View Article#FlashPIC 54 Will It Hurt #writingprompt #amwriting
You are high in the air, looking down. It is a long way to the ground. Why are you there, what are you doing? Write a foot chase sequence for a book or film in which your character has no choice but to...
View Article#FlashPIC 55 Wild Rose #writingprompt #amwriting
Consider the symbolism of a wild rose, growing unchecked in the hedgerow. Red roses traditionally mean passion, true love and romance, but what about other colours? And how is a wild rose different?...
View Article#FlashPIC 56 Could She Climb to the Next Balcony #writingprompt
This is a dramatic situation. Someone is considering climbing onto the next balcony. Why? Where is she? Will she do it or not? This is a writing prompt from the Writers’ BLOCKbusters series. Follow...
View Article#FlashPIC 57 Winter Sky #writingprompt #amwriting
Looking up to the sky on the kind of winter’s day when you want to be outside, wrapped up warm, breathing the chill air deep into your lungs, can be uplifting. Experiment with capturing this feeling,...
View Article#FlashPIC #58 Abandoned Car Park #writingprompt #amwriting
In every city and town there is an abandoned corner of ground, home only to weeds, rubbish and foxes. Take this setting and make something happen here. This is a writing prompt from the Writers’...
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